Blood and Chocolate
by L.G. Lena
Summary: When all is lost, where do you go? To Sand. GaSaku


Disclaimer: Own nothing to do with Naruto except those that I make up myself. Now someone get me Gaara for my birthday.

Blood and Chocolate

She wasn't sure what had made him seek her side, or why she took comfort in his presence. Perhaps it was the simple fact that they were the last of their respective circles. That they had both lost everything in the battle that had changed four countries forever. Still, standing in the rain that relentlessly poured from the skies, she was glad he was there. Everyone had lost something in the war between the four, but none so much as him and her. Tentatively she grasped his hand for support as the funeral progressed on, coming to the portion they were each dreading as the line of those being buried reached their significant ones.

Gaara tensed as he looked for the final time upon the faces of his brother, sister, and team leader. By his direct order, Kankarou's face paint had been left on and all three were buried with their weapons. Jade eyes roamed his sister's face, looking so peaceful now. Not like her last moment's in life, as she lay on the ground gasping for air into lungs that had been ripped by Sound and Stone kunai. He had been too late to raise a sand wall to protect her. His gaze wandered over to his brother and team leader, whom sources said they had died back-to-back, simply overwhelmed by numbers while protecting the civilians retreat out of Konoha.

When the reports had come from the Hokage that the Leaf village needed Sand's aid against the combined forces of Stone and Sound making their way to the Fire Country's hidden village, he had quickly answered the request from his country's ally. Every jounin and sand ANBU he had available at the time had been rounded up, including his two siblings and former team leader. Gaara had known, if Konoha fell, it would be Suna that would be targetted next. They're only chance was to team their forces together to stop the two murderous hidden villages once and for all. And they had, at an extreme price.

His gaze was torn away from watching as dirt was piled over the bodies of the last remaining family he had had when the hand gripping his squeezed tighter. Emerald eyes stared resolutely as the next set of three were honored, and she placed a rose on their chest as they each passed by her. She included a little orange book as well to be buried with her former sensei. Sakura's breath hitched harshly as she took in their calm faces, cleaned of the blood that had drenched them. They had died protecting her, protecting the village, like true heros. She could distinctly remember the two chidori's ripping through the ranks, Naruto's shadow clones and Rasengan demolitioning another trail through the enemy ranks. She had been torn away from their side by the last push, not even noticing as she battled three Sound nins. But she had been the first to find them when it was clear.

The mask was in place on Kakashi's face as they lowered him into the grave, hiding his slashed throat. Sasuke had fallen on top of him, dozens of weapons dug into his flesh. He had obviously been trying to protect their former sensei. Naruto though...she choked as she remembered coming upon him. He had been alive, just barely and just long enough to give her a bright smile and parting words. _I'll...wait for...you. So don't...don't go dying...anytime soon._ She had held him in those last moments, as his last breath hissed out, lids closing over eyes that still showed the same gentle caring, the same protectiveness and love he'd shown her since they'd been in the academy together. Even as she had tried to heal him, her mind knew it was hopeless and he was gone. The gaping hole through his stomach had taken him too quickly for any healing to save.

And now she was alone in the world, her best friends who had slowly become her family taken from her in this, hopefully, last battle. Her only companion was the stoic and silent man next to her, one who had once been an enemy himself. She didn't care though, for as the cold earth covered the three she had affectionately dubbed as 'her boys', she finally broke down underneath the grief and clung to Gaara's arm with both hands. It wasn't much of a shock when he removed said arm from her grasp, but it was downright earth-shattering when he simply moved it around her shoulders, silently offering her comfort. It was a tentative hold, he simply didn't have the experience to know how to offer her true comfort.

"Its not fair." Sakura sniffled, breath hitching in suppressed sobs. She refused to fully break down, still holding in a large portion of the grief for a time when she was alone.

"I know." Feeling slightly uncomfortable in the large crowd that had turned out, he looked one more time at the graves of his siblings as they were finished being filled in, and led the girl away from the site.

She didn't even notice, her feet instinctively going with him as the kunoichi focused on holding back as many tears as she could. After all, _they_ wouldn't like to see her so depressed, she had to be strong. But the world felt so cold, so colorless now without them. She stumbled as her companion abruptly stopped underneath a large tree, the thick foliage from the branches above offering them a shelter from the freezing rains. And her heart re-shattered as she remembered all four of them meeting up here not a week ago, training for the battle ahead.

Her legs gave out and she sank to the ground, Gaara following to go down on one knee as her hold on his arm had not relented in the least. "WHY?!" She screamed out, releasing her hold on Gaara only wrap arms around his neck, crying heavily onto his shoulder. It didn't matter that he was dangerous, that anyone who touched him like this generally ended up dead. It only mattered that he was there, that he was warm, and that he understood. He was stiff, not used to situations like this but he brought his now-free arm up to wrap gently around her, tentatively placing his hand on her back. Warm tears replaced the freezing rain on his neck and he gripped her harder as she shook more, a thread of worry flitting through him that she would simply fall apart from the force of her sorrow.

In a way, it was a comfort to be there with her as well. She could cry for him, the tears he could not. Perhaps that was the reason why he found himself burying his nose into her rain-soaked hair and wrapping his other arm around her as well. Maybe it was the reason he eventually found himself sitting against the trunk of the tree, hours later, stroking one hand through damp pink strands as the rain clouds scattered and allowed the sun to take over the sky in time for sunset. Why he, the infamous and cruel Gaara no Subaku, allowed this Leaf kunoichi to fall asleep in his lap while he draped his black coat over her.

_She has suffered the same loss as I. As my family is dead, so too is hers. Perhaps...she will understand me now. Perhaps, we are not so different._ The man mused to himself, carefully shifting his legs into a more comfortable position. _I wonder how she will cope with this. Will you become a broken shell of who you were, a cold leader, or maybe a ruthless killer seeking only revenge?_

"Na..ru...to..." Sakura moaned, eyes clenching shut in her sleep and her hand fisting into the material of his shirt. Her legs twitched several times, eyes flickering rapidly underneath the lids. Her breath came in short, hard pants and Gaara snatched his hand back, unable to decide what he should do. The woman's eyes flew open as she bolted upright, one hand reaching out desperately. "Sasuke, NO!!"

Emerald stared straight into jade, unseeing, before rapid blinking brought focus to her vision. She moved back, his coat pooling in her lap as she did so, to get a better look at him. "The nightmares fade. In time." Gaara spoke abruptly, dragging his gaze from the woman's to the sky. "The pain does too."

Slowly she moved off his lap, picking up his coat and holding it out to him. He glanced at the material before returning to stare at the rainbow that had formed in the dusk light. Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion before she tentatively wrapped it back around herself. "Why does it hurt so much?" Her voice was hoarse and broken from so much crying.

"Because we're human and we care. Because we give something of ourselves to those we care about and when they die, that part of us dies as well." He murmured.

His answer shocked her. She had not expected him to say something quite so insightful or so...well...human. The two remained silent as the last of the sun vanished beneath the horizon, and silent still longer as night encroached. She yawned, eyelids sinking downward, and took a chance to lean against her male companion. This time, it wasn't so much of a surprise to her when his arm rose up and circled her waist. "Where does one go, when one's home is lost now?" She asked quietly.

"To Sand." She heard, just before falling back asleep.

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AN: Okay, I had to do it! I had to write a story with a much less homicidal and much more human and sweeter Gaara. So yeah, read and review and let me know how you like it. And this is just the first chapter, the rest will be much longer.


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